


Pinned Down

by Merkwerkee



Series: Being Bruno Hamilton [17]
Category: Masters of the Metaverse
Genre: Whumptober 2019, during his time in the Vietnam War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-23
Updated: 2020-02-23
Packaged: 2021-02-28 01:21:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22855393
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merkwerkee/pseuds/Merkwerkee
Summary: Sometimes when all the doors are closed, you have to use det cord to make a window
Series: Being Bruno Hamilton [17]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1643020





	Pinned Down

“Dammit all to hell.”

Graves’ statement was given in an almost conversational tone, and if Bruno hadn’t been hunkered down behind the same fallen chunk of concrete as the other man, he likely wouldn’t have heard it. As it stood, despite the hail of gunfire and bullets pouring into - and around, these guys were horrible shots - their cover, Bruno heard him perfectly. For the fourth time. In three minutes.

“Got anything more useful to say?” He asked dryly, taking a blind shot around the corner. To his faint surprise and satisfaction, his shot was rewarded with a cry of pain and an easing of some of the fire coming down on their position. Graves took the opportunity to pop off a few shots of his own, and seemed mildly put out when his shots failed to produce any audible consternation among the opposition.

“Yeah, fuck those guys,” was his almost petulant response and Bruno rolled his eyes; apparently Weber’s attitude was contagious for all that he wasn’t here.

“Helpful. Anything else?”

A grenade rolled up beside their shelter and Graves kicked it back towards where the Chinese were taking shelter of their own. The explosion stopped the gunfire for a moment, but the floor trembled worryingly and the silence was punctured by the groans of overstressed architecture, and Graves did a lightning-quick peek over the piece of ceiling they were hiding behind. Dropping down, he looked over at Bruno with a frown. “Yeah. This place is missing a pretty significant amount of load-bearing pillars. Also, why does this shit always happen to us and not any of the others?”

“Because the others have all the luck? Because they’re smarter than we are? Because the universe hates them less? Take your pick.” Bruno murmured absently, frowning as he looked around, the beginnings of a plan started to take shape in his brain. “Are we on the ground floor?” He asked, and Graves shrugged.

“Floor plan says yeah we are, but the number of guys still here after Boots’ team cleared both stories and the worrying shimmy to our seat say nah we’re not. Why?”

Bruno smiled thinly and pulled the last of the det cord from his pack and Graves paled.

“No way in hell am I doing that stupid shit again, Hammer. Not after last time.”

Bruno frowned down at the smaller man. “If you’d taken my advice about the tarps, you wouldn’t have broken your ankle.”

Bruno’s measured statement was dismissed with a wave. “Yeah, well, Chisel fell on the tarps and he broke his fucking wrist. Also, do you see any tarps around here? Because I sure as hell don’t. And I’ll be _damned_ if I get put back in fucking crutches so soon after getting out of the damn things.”

Bruno shrugged. “It’s either drop now on our own terms or drop in two minutes with the rest of the ceiling coming down with us.” Graves squinted up at the ceiling - with its spreading cracks and dust coming free - and cursed fluently in Korean. Taking that as an affirmative, Bruno handed his gun to Graves and began spreading the cord. In one of the longest minutes of his life he made a semicircle with the cord and rigged a quick detonator to his last grenade. Graves provided what covering fire he could in their limited position, emptying the magazine in his gun just as Bruno finished laying out the explosive.

Bruno motioned him over, and Graves sighed heavily as he shuffled over, reloading his gun at the same time and handing Bruno’s back to him. The heft spoke of at least half a magazine left, and Bruno tucked it back into his holster; now of all times was not a good one to accidentally shoot a teammate, if there ever was a good time for that kind of idiocy. Throwing an arm over Graves’ back and yanking him in close, Bruno pressed the button and the world went quiet as the floor dropped out from underneath them.

Graves landed on the dirt floor of the tunnel underneath first with a surprised “oomph” that Bruno felt more than heard, and was almost immediately pinned by Bruno landing on him. At least without breath he couldn’t complain, not that Bruno could have heard him anyway through the ringing in his ears, and Bruno himself didn’t have the breath but do anything to brace against…..one, two, three, **ow** , _four_ chunks of roof and ceiling that came down after them. At least Graves could wriggle himself free; Bruno was pinned by the chunks of plaster and wood - thankfully the concrete pieces had mostly dropped away and to the side or he’d be in a much bigger world of hurt.

As it stood, it took Graves almost ten minutes to shift enough rubble that Bruno himself could move. Finally free, he took a minute to get his bearings while Graves spoke at length about something, probably a complaint or a critique of Bruno’s plastique skills; it didn’t matter much as Bruno still couldn’t hear anything very well and Graves sounded underwater and very far away. Rather than waste brainpower trying to decipher what he was ranting about, Bruno made a short hand gesture and started down the tunnel to the left and away from the main part of the building; hopefully they could find a tunnel to the surface or making the rendezvous was going to be very difficult.

Graves complained every step of the way out.


End file.
